Tag Archives: Eye Dr

Around 10 million school children in America have vision conditionsthat can negatively affect learning. This can be prevented by taking kids to get their first formal eye exam with an Eye Dr in an Eye Clinic BEFORE they enter school. A child’s first eye test with an Eye Doctor should be done between ages 3 and 4. At Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters) and Davie (Next to Pearle Vision) – our Optometrists, Dr Bearden, Dr Tenn and Dr McCulloh, begin to see children at age 4.

Allen Picture Cards

A child does NOT need to be able to verbalize or know their alphabetfor the examinerto perform a comprehensive eye examination.

There are numerous eye charts for children!!

Lea Flip Chart

Allen and Lea charts have pictures or shapes on them that youngsters can identify. The Broken wheel chartallows the child to tell the examiner which wheel on the car is “broken” . The Tumbling E chart (also known as the illiterate chart) allows a child to just POINT in the direction that the “legs of the E” are pointing in.

Allen Picture Eye Chart

Often our children can not express to us when they are having problems with their vision. They may not even realize that they are experiencing vision problems. Sometimes children will try to compensate for vision issues by closing one eye, rubbing their eyes excessively, squinting, skipping over words or loose their place when they are reading.

Kids may start having difficulty in school due to an “unknown” reason. A recent study indicated that up to 60 percent of youngsters that have been identified as “problem learners” or “learning disorder” actually suffer from an undetected visual condition.

Tumbling E Eye Chart

A vision problem is not suspected in many children because they were able to pass the school vision screening or the pediatrician vision screening. These children may still have visual issues but, they were not detected on the screening. Only a comprehensive eye exam, done by an Eye Doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) will be able to detect subtle vision problems.

Broken Wheel Eye Test

Vision issues need to be detected and corrected before age 7 to prevent lifelong problems such as lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn (strabismus), learning disabilities and behavior problems.

This is a great video (BEST VIEWED THROUGH YOUR FIREFOX WEB BROWSER) about a kid who is having his or her FIRST eye examination. When a child enters an eye clinic for the first time – there is usually some apprehension and fear (for both the child… and the parent!).

Viewing this great video with your child prior to having an eye exam can help explain some of the vision tests that the Eye Doctor and his/her support staff is doing. It will also help you and your child become more comfortable with what goes on during an eye exam. Believe it or not….an eye exam can be a lot of fun!

Visionary Eyecare provides eye exams for children at all 3 of our Broward County / Ft Lauderdale area Locations – Pembroke Pines (next to Lenscrafters), Davie (next to Pearle Vision) and Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters and INSIDE the Sawgrass Mills Mall).

We are providers for EyeMed and this excellent video was provided by EyeMed Vision Care.

If you are having trouble viewing this video…

You can see the video on the right side of this blog under the sidebar category “Visionary Eyecare VODPOD videos” (It is called: Video – Child’s Eye Exam) ….you can find it if you look on the right side of the blog at the sidebar categories and scroll all the way down 🙂

Visionary Eyecare has eye clinics in Davie (Next to Pearle Vision), Pembroke Pines and Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters)…and we have a wonderful mix of patients from ALL OVER the globe.

If you or your friends are looking to view our website and learn about Visionary Eyecare but, you would like to view the website in another language….then you are now in LUCK! Learn more about our vision exams, our contact lens exams, our eye doctors, our online eye exam appointments and more….in 12 available languages.

Yahoo Babel Fish is a language translator. Just select the language that you want to view the page in….. and it will be translated for you immediately. Available languages include Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portugese and Russian.

Illinois recently passed a law that intends for ALL children to receive a comprehensive eye examination from an Eye Doctor before entering school – so no child from Illinois will fall between the cracks of the “vision screen” system. Here in South Florida at Visionary Eyecare, we see WAY too many children that have significant visual problems that were simply NOT picked up on these school or pediatrician vision screenings. When a child has a vision problem and it is not detected and treated early enough – this can lead to a LIFETIME of vision problems.

Please click on the above picture to sign a petition to fully support this legistlation by incorporating a Vision First Exam Form. This exam form will insure that the children are receiving very thorough and comprehensive eye exams from an Eye Dr before they attend school.

We want to support Illinois every step of the way so hopefully they will support Florida on day in passing similar legislation one day for our children!!

Congrats and much love to our wonderful Eye Doctor … Emily McCulloh … who was recently married to Brady Hollingsworth on September 27th!

Dr Tenn (our other awesome Optometrist) and Ralph Justiz (our Optometric Technician from the Visionary Eyecare office in Pembroke Pines) traveled to Oklahoma to share this special day with Dr Emily McCulloh. Dr Anna-Kay Tenn served as a beautiful bridesmaid in the wedding. Both – Dr Emily McCulloh and Dr Anna-Kay Tenn work at our Pembroke Pines, as well as, our Sunrise (inside Sawgrass Mills Mall) eye clinic locations located next to Lenscrafters.

You don’t have any vision problems….your vision is perfect……so why should you get your eyes examined yearly…or at all?? Do you know anyone who has really good eyesight…and feels that there is no reason to go to the eye doctor because they don’t need eyeglasses??

Well, the above YouTube video is for YOU and THEM!

A common misconception is that the only reason to see an eye doctor is to get some glasses, contacts or to get their prescription updated. Does this sound familiar??

A comprehensive eye exam is MOSTLY about checking the HEALTH of your eyes. A lot of eye health problems – diseases and disorders of the eyes (like glaucoma, retinal holes and tears etc) – do NOT cause any kind of symptoms (like blurred vision, headaches, pain, feelings of “pressure” in and around eyes etc…).

Just because you can see clearly, see colors correctly and don’t notice any vision problems does not necessarily mean that your eyes are healthy.

Did you know that a comprehensive eye exam can ALSO provide early detection of some SYSTEMIC problems. All sorts of systemic problems – like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Brain Tumors etc….can be detected during a comprehensive eye exam. If your eye doctorsuspects that you may have a systemic problem then, he or she can refer you to your primary care doctor for further evaluation and testing to determine if you have the systemic disease.

ALWAYS wash, rinse and dry your hands thoroughly each time you handle your contact lenses. This will help eliminate germs (bacteria, viruses, fungus etc) that can cause eye infections and vision loss.

Clean, Rinse and Disinfect your contact lenses after wearing them. Make sure that you DO rub your contact lenses (even if the solution says “No Rub”) – this will help in loosening any deposits, films or debris on your lenses. Saline solutions are used to RINSE contact lenses (NOT to clean or store contacts) – use multipurpose solutions for cleaning and storing contacts.

Remove your lenses IMMEDIATELY if they become uncomfortable or your eyes become red and/or light sensitive. Discomfort and irritation can be an early warning sign of a problem. If discomfort continues AFTER you remove your contact lenses – IMMEDIATELY contact your eye doctor.

DO NOT INSERT A CONTACT LENS INTO AN EYE THAT IS RED, IRRITATED, PAINFUL OR UNCOMFORTABLE!!

Do NOT sleep in your contact lenses. People who sleep in their contact lenses have a higher risk of eye infections and ulcerations.

DISCARD your contact lenses as directed by your eye doctor (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly etc). Wearing a contact lens longer than the approved wear time can cause infections and corneal distortions (the front of the eye can become warped with contact lens overwear).

Have YEARLY Contact Lens Eye Examinations. Your eye doctor can re-evaluate and re-fit (if needed) your contact lenses for you every 12 months. Sometimes contact lenses feel comfortable even if they are causing problems. Your eye doctor will evaluate if the prescription needs to be changed to get you the most precise vision and they will also evaluate if the contact lens that you are wearing is causing problems that you may be unaware of.

CLICK HERE for more information about Contact Lenses from Visionary Eyecare’s website.